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Things are shifting in the world and everyone knows it. Yet somehow I’m happier than I’ve ever been in my life. I’ve taken everything I’ve ever thought I’ve known and thrown it off a cliff. I’ve taken on a beginner’s mind, a mind like a child. We are in a time of rapid information and change. Children learn so rapidly that they are neither afraid of not knowing nor convinced they already know what they don’t. I figured I could take a lesson or two from that. After a certain age, we start to feel like we know quite a bit about life and no longer feel the need to seek out experience. In essence, we become teachers and get rusty. We take pains to avoid the exposure of ignorance and act as though we know, even when we don’t. But here’s the thing: if you accept and love yourself as you are, engaging in the vulnerable act of learning without fear of looking foolish, you put the desire to grow ahead of defending your ignorance. This applies not only to learning new skills or activities but to all we think we know about life. Don’t let deeply ingrained beliefs limit your experience. For example, we think: “If things get good, something bad will happen,” or “I can’t really have what I want in life.” Sure, you can insist on these beliefs, beat yourself up, guilt yourself into believing you don’t deserve them, self-sabatoge your heart with your mind, find facts from your past to support all this evidence, build a case for why they are so. Doing so shuts the door to the opportunity of experience. As only an empty cup can be filled, so your heart must be empty of pride and what it thinks it knows to receive the gift of wisdom. Embrace humility. Meet life head-on. Drop the case you’ve built for yourself and make room to grow.

We are all changing together. Hold on to one another and keep peace in your hearts.

Tonight I intently listened to cracks in the sky and took in the gush of pine perfume. This weekend I opened all windows + doors and listened to song birds as I accomplished household chores. I guess the outdoors were missing me again because this short burst of a storm called my name. Nearly as soon as it came, the storm was gone. The stars were out again, cutting the darkness with diamond fire.

18mm, f/3.5, 30 sec exposure

I keep getting a feeling like I’m more connected to the stars and all the people I’ve ever met than I realize. Living in nature helped propel that connection. I am grateful for my sacred space on this Earth, for it is a space of wonder, amazement and creativity. A place to get lost and feel the joy kindred to that of a child. A safe space to learn, grow and create. I am even more grateful clients can enjoy it too. =)

Here is a roundup of the sky this week. It looks like the Moon and Orion are going to either have a duel or a dance off.

Please take a moment to relate this timeline in millions of years to your short span of life. Simply amazes me.

At Houston’s Museum of Natural Science, I took a tour of the world and its history. These pictures were taken in a single building. So many tragedies have occurred lately. It was nice to go to the museum and fill the emptiness with knowledge, perspective and the wonder of Earth’s conundrums.

Today I was trimming a cute little bowl and didn’t have it properly anchored. The piece went flying across the wheel and plopped on the floor. I felt like I had murdered the piece of pottery until my teacher gave me an idea to make it work.

I dedicate this picture to my husband who is intuitive and sweet enough to know that I need art to feed my soul. He surprised me with this pottery class and I am thankful.

My work came back fired today and we finished firing our raku pieces. CLICK HERE for the video and look for my tall white piece in the middle of the kiln.

Here are the final pieces, which all got the same glaze (besides the white raku glaze)!!! Crazy because they all turned out drastically different in my opinion. I did dip the rim of the mug in black which caused the feathered bleeding down the mug.

Cooking here I come! Spoon rest. This was my first project and I felt like I overworked the piece but it turned out nice and I dig the prairie primitive look.

I posted some pics of Austin a few weeks ago that were taken with my handy dandy Canon point and shoot camera. They can be seen here: Oooh, Oooh, CLICK ME!!!!

I forgot that I took two cameras while wandering around South Congress until I came across a few stray pics on the SD card today. These pictures were taken with a Nikon D90 and Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 lens (which is my favorite lens of all time).

I enjoyed going through the pics and listening to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Yes, this is normal in Austin.

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If you are thinking of a new camera and don’t know to go DSLR, read below:

The point and shoot from the other blog cost $350 and the DSLR + lens was quadruple that amount. I enjoy shooting with both cameras for different reasons. The point and shoot is about the size of a deck of cards, is strictly for play but could fool a professional photographer with remarkable close-ups and low light wide angles. The downside of shooting wide-angle is that sometimes people look fatter due to lens distortion. The DSLR+50mm 1.4 is a bit bulkier but can shoot in lower light and has less distortion. The downside to the 50mm is that it is a fixed lens, meaning there is no zoom- like you actually have to move like a real photographer to get the shot. The blurry background, also called bokeh, is creamier with the DLSR but the point and shoot comes surprisingly close in the right light! I could go on and on and on about the lens- the nifty fifty is such a beautiful portrait lens. The DSLR has better quality although the point and shoot has the ability to shoot in RAW- but I usually find myself doing a little more post processing with the point and shoot pictures. If lighter weight and smaller size matter, I recommend the Canon S90, S95 or S100 (just three different models but essentially the same, I have the S90 and S95 and love both). Canon didn’t even pay me to say that. It’s just a great little camera. Like a Mac computer, it just works beautifully and easily and it’s sleek and sexy.

No matter the camera body you get if you go DSLR, I highly recommend getting a 50mm lens because it is such a gorgeous portrait lens. Dependable. Reliable. Makes you feel like a real photographer. Start out with the 1.7 (Sony and Minolta) or 1.8 (Canon and Nikon) for only $100. I recommend upgrading to the 1.4 when you know what you are doing and are wise enough to know the difference between the lenses and their capabilities. But that is my humble opinion go and buy what is going to make you happy. Technology will constantly evolve, so go with something that feels comfortable for you when choosing a camera.